A/N: Even if Alyssa is able to get herself back to safety physically will she ever recover mentally? Hope you enjoy the next chapter!

Previous Chapter: Deuce isn't an idiot. He would've come up with a backup plan in case I was trying to escape. And the most logical thing I would do was run straight for the door, what if it was booby trapped? So instead, I ran to the window. I unlatched the window and climbed through it. I turned to look at the door and saw a mechanism with a shot gun rigged up to the front door.

I sighed in relief that for once I stopped to think instead of acting. Manny would be proud of me, I smiled to myself. I jumped off of the porch and took off into the woods. Which direction to go was beyond me but as long as I was free, I was going to keep running.

CHAPTER 35

My bare feet were screaming, "No more!" from every connection they had to the unwelcoming earth. I continued to run despite what my body was trying to tell me and my brain kept yelling, "There's no escape from these woods!"

Was I running in circles? I wasn't quite sure. But I sure as hell wasn't going to stop. I was a dead woman anyways if Deuce were to find me once again at least this way I died fighting. The sun went down and I was starting to run out of steam until I finally struck gold as my foot hit pavement. I had reached a parkway. I walked along the road carefully in hopes for a road side to give me a clue as to where I was when a pair of headlights blinded me. I shield my eyes for a second and began waving my arms frantically at the driver.

The lights came to a slow halt and the driver side door opened as a staunch man in a plaid shirt approached me. Realizing what I fright I must look. At attempt of some modesty, I tried to cover my body with my hands and waited for him to approach me. I had never been so happy to see another person in my whole life.

"Darling, are you ok?" he reached me in concern.

My eyes filled with tears as I nodded my head vigorously.

"We need to get you to a hospital," he said reaching out to me.

My hands immediately flew up in protest as I opened my mouth to shout the words, "NO!" but nothing came out except for garble and my throat felt like it was on fire.

I frantically mouthed the words, "No hospital," and waved my hands in objection.

"Ok where do you want to go then," he asked confused.

I attempted to tell him Rangeman in Trenton, trying my hardest to push the words out of my mouth despite the burning pain in my throat.

"Darling, I don't know what you're trying to say but I'm heading into Trenton if that's ok with you."

I nodded my head excitedly as I grabbed his hand in gratefulness.

"Ok Trenton it is then," he smiled at me. "My name is Clive. I'm going to help you to the car, ok?" he asked carefully.

I nodded my head at him like a bobble head and opened the passenger side door for me. Being able to sit down and get away from the winter chill was the best feeling ever. I'd have to say right up there with your first bite of a Pino's meatball sub.

Clive cranked up the heat on full blast, reached back and grabbed a blanket from his backseat and draped it over me. Grateful I snuggled in, thankful for the warmth of the scratchy material and then he laid his hand on my thigh that made me flinch slightly.

"It's going to be ok, Darling. Are you sure you don't want me to take you to the hospital or the police?"

I nodded my head briskly.

"Ok then, Darling. Next stop: Trenton."

We drove in silence listening to talk radio for about an hour. My heart leapt out of my chest as we approached the big green sign that said Trenton New Jersey. He drove in a couple of miles and I could feel the relief pumping through my veins as we drew closer and closer to home. He then began to slow down and steer towards the side of a small dark road and come to a stop.

My eyes lit up as a I sat up straight. I guess this was where my ride ended. I reached for his hands to shake it and thank him. I unbuckled my seatbelt and reached for the door handle when the click of the automatic door lock engaged. I spun around to look at him as my savior's eyes clouded over.

"Darling, from what I can see is that you've been used and abused pretty good there, probably as someone's sex slave or some kind of fugitive on the run or maybe some drug addict," he said matter of fact. "So why not for repayment for my kindness of driving you all this way, you give me a little bit of that pussy?"

He reached over and yanked the blanket off of me and reached over to squeeze my thigh. I angrily shoved his hand away. Was there no good moral person in this world any longer? My heart cried out. He then slapped me across the face and held up what looked like a hunting knife to my throat. I gulped back and settled down into my seat.

"That's a good girl," he smiled. "You're going to be a good girl and love me long time," he chuckled at his racist comment and stepped over the console and began unbuckling his pants. He wrapped his chubby hand around my breast and squeezed it tightly as he leaned the seat down licking his lips intently and continued grope my chest.

I swung my arms as hard as I could into his head sliding my body to the side away from the blade as it sliced into my shoulder.

"Fucking, bitch!" he screamed.

I quickly brought my knee up to his jewels as he fell into me. I struggled to reached over to unlocked the door and with all of my leftover strength, I pushed him out the door. I grabbed the knife and with all of the rage inside of me, I speared it into his thigh and watched him cry out in pain.

I searched him for a phone or anything to help me so that I could call out to someone but he had nothing. This hillbilly had nothing on him. I made my way over to the driver side and looked around for the car keys and couldn't spot anything and was about to grab for his wallet when I heard movement from the other side.

"Bitch," he spat, followed by the sound of a gun going off.

Idiot, I cursed at myself. I should've made sure he had no other weapons on him.

I ducked and took off down the street as the sound of gunshots fired behind me. I ran for blocks hoping to find something familiar. Why it was my luck that I'd be running around half naked in the middle of the night and nobody seems to be on the streets?

My shoulders were now beginning to sting from the cut of the blade and my eyes started to glaze over from fatigue. It took me a good while to get out of this abandoned warehouse area that reminded me a lot of Stark Street. But if it was Stark Street or anything similar, I guess I had to thank my lucky stars that I didn't run into another human being.

I finally reached a neighborhood of row houses after leaving what I called the abandoned warehouse district. I was about to make my way up to a random house to knock on the door but recognition dawned on me. The row houses looked a lot like the ones in Les and Bobby's neighborhood.

I wandered down the street after street until I could recognize the street signs when I finally reached the ultimate prize. I stood haggard and exhausted but pushed on as I saw the glowing light from Les and Bobby's front steps. The house glowed like it was calling out to me.

I dragged myself up the brick stairs trying to call out to them but no sound but garble came out. I reached the door and banged as hard as I could, rang the doorbell, and jiggled the doorknob for a few minutes and realized no one was home.

What would it be my luck that they've chosen to stay at Rangeman for the night instead of coming back home? I tried screaming out in defeat but I couldn't even do that as it seems something has happened to my vocal cords. So I slid to the ground, and curled up into the fetal position. I came so far only to reach a dead end and I no longer had the strength or energy to push on.

^o^ * ^o^

When I was a little girl I wasn't much different than I am right now. I often got myself into trouble. I caused my parents more heartache than joy.

My father, I didn't know him very well. He was often wrapped up in his business. He was a man of great mystery to me. My father was in the business of imports. He owned the import/exports company and was often away traveling overseas. Although I never really knew him, when he was around, he did nothing but shower me with gifts and warmth.

He was a man that never left his family wanting. We had everything we ever wanted in life except for his physical presence. I'd sometimes catch my mother crying quietly in her bedroom late at night.

I sometimes wonder what I would be like if my parents were still here. I probably would never have met the people in my life now. I would've never become friends with Misty because the likelihood of me going to school in Trenton would have been slim to none. My father would have sent me to an Ivy League college or a highly regarded university so I would've never found myself working at E.E. Martin as a Lingerie Buyer.

I would've never gotten laid off and met the Merry Men, Lula, Connie but most of all I would've never met Ranger… Instead, I probably would've been in training to step up next in line to take over my father's business. Would he have wanted to pass his business onto his only daughter or would he have been sexist and believe that there was no way a woman would have the business sense to take over his company.

I would never know what my father's stance would be on for certain political topics of discussion because I was too young at that time to even know how my father thought in the real-world sense. As an Asian man, was he disappointed that he ended up with a daughter instead of a son who could continue to carry on his family name?

I used to imagine him running around in foreign countries as a super spy for the government because that life seemed so much more exciting than the life of an imports businessman. It helped me to cope with the fact that he was away so long saving the world instead of staying away because he cared more about his company than his own family.

My eyes fluttered open as a piercing light of the sun blinded me. I was numb from the pain I had endured and suddenly felt like it had all melted away. I sat up slowly and realized that I was somewhere familiar. A photo on the nightstand next to me was one of my family — the one that I kept in my shoebox of memories. I then realized I was in my old bedroom.

I was about to jump out of bed, wondering what kind of sick joke this was and who knew me well enough to set up a room exactly like the one I had grown up in as a child with my parents when the door opened and a petite framed woman carrying a tray walked in…

"Con gái [little girl], lay back down before you make yourself more sick," the woman said approaching my bed.

She sat down next to me as she laid the tray of hot tea and sponge cake on my nightstand and smiled.

My eyes widened in shock, "Mẹ [Mom]?"

"You've forgotten the face of your own mother already?" she chuckled and poured the tea into a cup.

Tears sprang from my eyes as I threw my arms around her and buried my face into her silky hair and soaked in the smell of her perfume. We stayed embraced for a few minutes not saying a word until she moved us a part and held up the cup of tea to me.

"Con gái, you need to keep up your strength and get better," she held the cup of tea out to me.

I obliged and took the cup from her tiny hands and took a sip of the warm liquid and it instantly filled my body with warmth.

"What happened? Why are we here?" I pumped her with questions.

"You're here because you seem to have given up your fight and need to be healed," she simply replied.

I looked at her with shame, "I don't' want to fight anymore, mẹ. I'm tired. Can't I just stay here for a little while longer," I set the cup to the side and grabbed her hand.

"Bé con [baby], this isn't the place for you. Not yet. Not for a long time," she stroked my hair gently.

"I want to be with you. I don't want to go," I cried throwing my arms around her.

"What about the friends you've made?" she asked me warmly as she held me.

"They don't need me," I said defiantly.

"Aiya," she clicked her tongue in disappointment. "Don't be a silly girl."

"Ma, I just cause all of them pain and suffering. They're better off without me. I want to stay here."

"That isn't true."

"But it is! I hurt everything I touch. Suffering follows me wherever I go," I blubbered on and on in self-pity.

My mother's eyes stormed over as she pushed me off of her and stood up. "This is what your father and I get for all of our sacrifice for you? We did not raise a quitter. We did not raise a disappointment of a child."

"Ma! I—"

"Fix your life! Don't soil our good family name," she slapped me hard across the face.

I felt the sting course through my entire body.

"Ma…" I cried as I reached my hand up to my cheek.

"Stop forgetting where you came from, con gái," she struck me once again.

"We're losing her!" I heard a faint voice from the distance say.

My body jolted as a shock electricity gushed through my body.

"Make it stop!" I cried out as the electricity pumped me several times.

My mother's angry disappointed face appeared in front of me. "Don't ever forget who you are. Keep fighting."

She's right, I've been so pathetic since Christmas. I pushed through pushed myself forward and harnessed the electricity running through my body and absorbed it's energy.

^o^ * ^o^

I woke up and adjusted my eyes to the blinding lights, I could feel the soft ambient sounds of machinery. I bolted up with a start and began to tear away the tubed and needles attached to my arms and tried to scream out but there was a tube jammed down my throat.

I frantically grabbed the mask to pull it off of my face with a pair of arms quickly wrapped around me frantically saying, "It's ok, Alyssa. You're safe!"

I continued to struggle against his arms.

"Shhh…baby, it's ok. You're safe. You're safe. Shhh…" the man held me tight an stroked my hair calmly. I focused in on the voice and began to settle down when I recognized the voice belonged to Bobby. Tears sprung from my eyes as I clung to his arms. I began trying to babble to him but the tube was in the way and my throat began to burn.

"Alyssa, you need to calm down. You're feverish from an infection and your vocal cords extremely bruised and inflamed. You need to stop using it if you wish for it to recover faster," he tried holding me down.

But I couldn't bother to listen to him. I needed to warn Ranger about Deuce. I needed to tell them what happened. I threw my hands and arms around trying to sign desperately hoping his standard Rangeman ESP would kick in.

"ALYSSA! Listen to me! You need to calm down! Your heart rate is spiking!" Bobby shouted at me.

I felt the movement from the other side of the room as Ranger shuffled towards me. He looked unkempt. He let his hair grow out longer, there were dark circles under his eyes and a dark overcast took over his face from not being shaved for what seems to be quite a while.

He wrapped his around me and I melted into him and felt a prick in my arm as I closed my eyes and fell into a dark, deep slumber.

^o^ * ^o^

"This is nothing like what happened with Ramirez," I heard the muffled sounds of Les' voice.

"He's right. If we want to keep her safe and recovering faster, we'll need to keep her sedated for a while. I don't want her getting worked up," Bobby responded stoically. "She's not only physically injured but she's going to be very emotionally hurt. The test came back positive…" his voice trailed off.

I heard a loud bang and the clatter of objects falling to the ground. I felt a warm strong hand wrap around mine. A surge of butterflies poured through my body and I wanted to cry as I could feel Ranger's pain transfer to me. I wanted to comfort him and tell him I was ok. I will be ok. I won't allow anyone to break my spirit.

"We need to know exactly what happened," Ranger growled out.

"And we will when she's awake," Bobby replied sternly. "Her well-being is the most important thing to focus on right now."

"Should we let the authorities in on this now? We've been keeping this on the low with everyone outside of Rangeman. Don't you think it's about time that this goes public so we have all the man power we can get?"

"No," Ranger said firmly. "We will handle this. The only cop brought in on this is Costanza. He's running the DNA for us. She trusts him so we will trust him to keep it quiet as well."

"What if the asshole gets too far before we get any results back? He's probably already on his way out of the country!" Les shouted angrily. "We Need all of the help we can get! Look at what the fuck he did to her!"

"We can only be lucky if he's left the country. Then it'll only be easier to complete the job outside of the U.S. Borders for us. We will hunt him down and we will put no stops to it…" Ranger's voice faded out. "Leave!" I heard Ranger bark with a strained voice.

I heard the door click shut as Ranger stayed by my side.

"Babe," he said in a desperate voice as he clung to my hand and held it to his lips. "I will kill the bastard who did this to you but you need to keep fighting."

I'm trying to fight! I tried to scream at him

I tried to will my eyes open but it felt like they were glued shut and my body was covered with a ton of bricks. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak…nothing. I don't want to be sedated. I want them to let me get up so that I can tell them what happened and to find Deuce before he disappears!

^o^ * ^o^

"How could anybody be this cruel?" Misty wailed.

I could feel her gripping my hand tightly. My chest tightened, feeling guilty for making her cry and feel like shit.

"I should've been there for you. I should've checked up on you. I've been such a terrible friend lately," she continued to weep into me.

I wanted to tell her this wasn't her fault. That she's moving forward with her life and that she was there for me when I was captured by Ramirez and even killed the man for me. There was no reason for her to feel like a lousy friend.

"Baby, there was nothing that you could do. We all worked tirelessly to find her. She wouldn't blame you for what happened. It's just a blessing that we've got her back now safe and sound," Bones tried soothing her.

Thank you, Bones, I smiled to myself.

"Yo," Bones said curtly. I could only imagine he was probably answering the phone. "They got a match on the DNA."

Relief came over me as I heard them shuffle out of the room.

^o^ * ^o^

"Everything's going to be ok, Wifey," Manny said kissing my forehead and squeezed my shoulder. "We got the bastard that did this to you and we'll make sure he pays."

^o^ * ^o^

"Bomber, we got the guy who did this to you in custody now. You can now hurry up and recover without any worries," Binkie said holding my hand. "We all have you covered and you don't need to worry about anybody getting to you. It's all over now."

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